Next-Generation Grid Visualization

Note to Utilities: If you are installing data gathering and reporting equipment (such as advanced metering and substation automation) but haven't yet figured out how to manage and control it... you are headed for a bump in the road. The volume of the new data will rapidly overwhelm your ability to make sense of it.

Note to Vendors: If you are selling intelligent equipment but you haven't yet figured out how customers should manage it... you're headed for a sales roadblock. You don't necessarily need to provide the visualization tools yourself, but you do need to make sure your products will seamlessly plug into a control center. And that means paying close attention to standards and to partnerships

Problems with the Current Generation

Grid visualization is used for many purposes, including real-time load monitoring and planning for load growth. Although many different visualization tools exist, they share some general shortcomings:

• Lack of integration of distribution and transmission
• Lack of integration of different types of information from different sources
• Inability to accurately represent wide area behavior
• Inability to accurately represent appliance-level behavior
• Computation slower than real time
• One-size-fits-all views that can't be customized for different users, such as system planners, system operators, policymakers, or utility customers

 Drivers of Change

The limitations of the current generation are even more challenging given the explosion in the amount of data to process. Consider, for instance, these recent developments, all of which increase the amount of data and the need to understand and act on it:

• Demand-side management requires advanced system controls and monitoring
• Customer-based demand response requires big amounts of information
• Transferring larger amounts of power across the grid requires a higher level of system awareness
• The threat of terrorism and natural disasters requires securing and monitoring critical infrastructure
• Market liberalization require communication and coordination between a growing number of generators, power marketers and transmission operators

 Features of Next Generation Grid Visualization

Given the problems with the current generation and the drivers of change, it will come as no surprise that several organizations have proposed future directions for modeling and visualization (notably the Consortium for Electric Infrastructure to Support a Digital Society (CEIDS) and the Galvin Electricity Initiative). Several themes are prevalent:

·        Multi-resolution modeling: View varying levels of detail, and the ability to zoom in on areas of specific interest, such as line outages. This could be integrated with other sources of information, such as live camera feeds of line conditions or thermometers. Having a variety of resolutions helps to prevent information overload while still allowing users to find highly detailed information when needed.

·        Multiple layers of information: Superimpose information depending on needs and interest. Information will be organized into “layers”, such as weather, line conditions, market prices, or power transfer.  This allows users to integrate relevant information into a common view, helping them understand correlations and causal relationships.

·        Faster than real-time performance: Visualization tools and simulators of the future will utilize increasing computational power to analyze systems at faster than real-time speeds, providing forecasts, contingency analyses, and suggested courses of action. This software will be increasingly multi-threaded, to take advantage of the growing availability of multi-core and multi-processor machines.

·        Geographically integrated over wide areas: the prevalence of tools such as Google Earth (which allows users to create custom, geographically integrated layers) raise the standard for wide area visualization. GIS-integrated maps are becoming a standard.

·        Color and three-dimensional views: Highlighting key information will be of increasing importance as larger and larger amounts of information are presented

·        High reliability and security: This is an obvious piece but implementation has proved to be difficult.  Network security and reliability are especially hard to maintain given the complexity and widely distributed nature of today’s networks.

·        A variety of views for a variety of users, including customers: As Smart Grid technologies become ubiquitous, utility customers will demand better online information. They will want to see the benefits of time-of-use rates, demand response programs, and other demand-side management programs. Some utilities in California, such as Southern California Edison, have already started trying this.

Next-Generation Visualization Software

Fortunately, there are several efforts to bring next-generation products to life. VERDE, a project being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy, will provide wide-area grid awareness in ways that were not possible before. It can integrate real-time sensor data, weather information and grid modeling with geographical information. It offers the potential to explore the state of the grid at the national level and then, within seconds, explore specific details at the street level. It can provide fast information about blackouts and power quality as well as insights into system operation for utilities. The entire platform is built on top of Google Earth, and can take advantage of content generated by Google Earth’s user community.

Supporting Simulation Software

A great example of a next-generation grid simulator is GridLAB-D, under development at Pacific Northwest National Lab in cooperation with the Modern Grid Initiative conducted by the National Energy Technology Laboratory. GridLAB-can simulate distribution systems to a high level of detail, even the behavior of specific appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners. It will also model transmission systems, connecting with distribution-level models to form a full grid-modeling tool. Because of its speed and detail, GridLAB-D can model a variety of concepts that were not easily modeled before:

• The impact of new control schemes, such as conservation voltage reduction
• The introduction of plug-in hybrids and the use of Vehicle to Grid technologies at varying penetrations
• The business case for Smart Grid technologies
• The impact of demand response programs and grid-friendly appliances
• The effect of distributed generation and energy storage

 If you are interested in finding out more about grid visualizations, please see the references below.

Alex Zheng is a graduate student of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and also consults to utilities and national laboratories as part of Horizon Energy Group.

      Email Alex Zheng

Visualizing the Electric Grid

Thomas J. Overbye and James D. Weber. IEEE Spectrum Online. February 2001

A key article showing major themes in future visualization work, implemented in the PowerWorld application.

Visualization of Power Systems and Components (PDF)

Thomas J. Overbye.  Power Systems Engineering Research Center. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

GridLAB-D(PDF)

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

GridLAB-D will be putting out a request for partnerships in a few weeks for those who are interested in joining in the development.

VERDE Fact Sheet (PDF)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 

Wide area, real-time situational awareness visualization tool under development

CEIDS and The Power Delivery System of the Future (PDF)

Clark W. Gellings.  Electric Power Research Institute.  March 2003.

A description of the CEIDS vision of the future of the grid. Includes key characteristics of future grid visualization technologies

The Path to Perfect Power: New Technologies Advance Consumer Control (PDF)

Galvin Electricity Initiative. January 2007.

An overview of a "bottoms-up" approach to transforming the electric power industry, including explanations of the need for consumers to have full information.

Reliability Compliance Monitoring (PDF)

Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS). October 2006.

CERTS uses wide area power visualizations to monitor electric reliability and compliance